Structural and optical properties of SiC films deposited on Si by DG magnetron sputtering

Silicon carbide films were deposited on Si by reactively sputtering of a silicon target in the CH(4) atmosphere of a BC sputtering system. Structural investigation of the stoichiometric SIC films showed that they were composed of microctystalline and amorphous SiC. The optical behavior of the SiC film was studied by IR reflectance in the range of 400cm(-1) to 4000cm(-1). The experimental IR reflectance in this range was fitted by calculating the complex dielectric function of the films based on effective medium theory (EMT), in which the SiC films were assumed to consist of homogeneously distributed SiC (amorphous and crystalline). The experimental spectra can be best fitted by adjusting the structural parameters and the volume fraction of crystalline phases. The results show that IRRS is a suitable method fur detection of the quality of SiC films deposited on Si.